Development and Flight Operation of a 5 lbf to 20 lbf O2/CH4 Roll Control Engine for Project Morpheus

McManamen, John P.; Hurlbert, Eric A.; Kroeger, Dennis

doi:10.2514/6.2014-3589

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The Morpheus project also did some ignition work, first started under the PCAD project, as part of the larger program effort. Specifically looking at developing a reaction control system for Morpheus, work at Johnson Space Center 3,12,13 investigated ignition of an in-house designed RCS engine, developed from the 870-lbf (3870-N) RCS work by Hurlbert et al 4 This in-house designed RCS engine utilized an integrated igniter, and was developing a coil-on-plug compact-style exciter system. Ground and flight tests showed successful firing of the RCS engines using the new igniter, and the system was later demonstrated as part of the Integrated Cryogenic Propulsion Test Article (ICPTA) in vacuum condtions, with the coil-on-plug exciter, earlier in 2017 as part of a vacuum facility operations test at NASA GRC's In-Space Propulsion (ISP, formerly: B-2) facility at Plum Brook Station.…”

Section: Brief History Of Methane Spark Ignition Work At Nasamentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Augmented Spark Impinging Igniter System for Methane Engines

Marshall

Osborne

Greene

2017

53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) program is establishing multiple no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA) partnerships with U.S. private sector entities. The purpose of this program is to encourage the development of robotic lunar landers that can be integrated with U.S. commercial launch capabilities to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. As part of the efforts in Lander Technologies, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is developing liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane (LCH4) engine technology to share with the Lunar CATALYST partners. Liquid oxygen and liquid methane propellants are attractive owing to their relatively high specific impulse for chemical propulsion systems, modest storage requirements, and adaptability to NASA's Journey to Mars plans. Methane has also been viewed as a possible propellant choice for lunar missions, owing to the performance benefits and as a technology development stepping stone to Martian missions. However, in the development of methane propulsion, methane ignition has historically been viewed as a high risk area in the development of such an engine. A great deal of work has been conducted in the past decade devoted to risk reduction in LOX/LCH4 ignition. This paper will review and summarize the history and results of LOX/LCH4 ignition programs conducted at NASA. More recently, a NASA-developed Augmented Spark Impinging (ASI) igniter body, which utilizes a conventional spark exciter system, is being tested with LOX/LCH4 to help support internal and commercial engine development programs, such as those in Lunar CATALYST. One challenge with spark exciter systems, especially at altitude conditions, is the ignition lead that transmits the high voltage pulse from the exciter to the spark igniter (spark plug). The ignition lead can be prone to corona discharge, reducing the energy delivered by the spark and potentially causing non-ignition events. For the current work, a commercial compact exciter system, which eliminates this high voltage cabling, was tested at altitude conditions. A modified, conventional exciter system with an improved ignition lead was also recently tested at altitude conditions. This test program demonstrated the capability of these exciter systems to operate at altitude. While more extensive testing may be required, these systems or similar ones may be used for future NASA and commercial engine programs.

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Section: Brief History Of Methane Spark Ignition Work At Nasamentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Augmented Spark Impinging Igniter System for Methane Engines

Marshall

Osborne

Greene

2017

53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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“…The USA's efforts towards the development of LO x /LCH 4 engines are the most significant. NASA has conducted system-level propellant trade studies that identified Lox/Methane as a top inspace propellant for human spacecraft, as well as descent/ascent landers [4,35,36]. The new reference engine is currently SpaceX's Raptor, since methane was indicated as the fuel of choice for SpaceX's plans for Mars colonization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Behaviour of the Cooling Jacket Belonging to a Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Rocket Engine Demonstrator in the Operation Box

et al. 2023

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The cooling jackets of liquid rocket engines are composed of narrow passages surrounding the thrust chambers and ensure the reliable operation of the engine. Critical conditions may also be encountered, since the cooling jackets of cryogenic engines, such as those using LOX/LCH4 propellants, are based on a regenerative strategy, where the fuel is used as a refrigerant. Consequently, deterioration modes near where pseudocritical conditions are reached or low heat transfer coefficients where the fuel becomes a vapour and must therefore be managed. The verification of the cooling jacket behaviour to consolidate the design solutions in all the extreme points of the operating box represents a very important phase. The present paper discusses the full characterization of the HYPROB (HYdrocarbon PROpulsion test Bench Program) first unit of the final demonstrator, (DEMO-0A), by considering the working points within the limits of the operating box and comparisons with the nominal conditions are given. In this way, a full understanding of the cooling system behaviour, affecting the working of the entire thrust chamber, is accomplished. Moreover, the design strategy and choices have been confirmed, since the verifications also include potentially even more extreme conditions with respect to the nominal ones. The investigation has been numerically performed and supported the thermo-structural analyses accomplished before the final firing campaign, completed in December 2022. Since little information is available in the literature on LOX/LCH4 engines, suggestions are given as to the organization of the numerical simulations, which support the design of such rocket engine cooling systems.

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“…Because all of the pulses during cold-thermal testing were short duration, it is possible that extending the spark duration out past the commanded valve closure time could have improved the probability of achieving a favorable MR for ignition. This was tried with success in the past, 5 but was not possible during Plum Brook testing based on the valve driving scheme.…”

Section: E Thermally-induced Non-ignitions/partial Ignitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a part of the project, a 20 lbf-thrust LOX/LCH4 engine capable of operating across a wide range of inlet temperatures and pressures was developed for the RCS. 5 A large set of development tests were performed on these engines to characterize performance. These tests were followed by a flight campaign in which the whole RCS was tested in an atmospheric environment over a wide range of operating modes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of a Pressure-Fed LOX/LCH4 Reaction Control System Under Simulated Altitude and Thermal Vacuum Conditions

Atwell

Melcher²,

Hurlbert³

et al. 2017

53rd AIAA/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference

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A liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid methane (LCH4) Reaction Control System (RCS) was tested at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in the Spacecraft PropulsionResearch Facility (B-2) under simulated altitude and thermal vacuum conditions. The RCS is a subsystem of the Integrated Cryogenic Propulsion Test Article (ICPTA) and was initially developed under Project Morpheus. Composed of two 28 lbf-thrust and two 7 lbf-thrust engines, the RCS is fed in parallel with the ICPTA main engine from four propellant tanks. Forty tests consisting of 1,010 individual thruster pulses were performed across 6 different test days. Major test objectives were focused on system dynamics, and included characterization of fluid transients, manifold priming, manifold thermal conditioning, Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) performance, and main engine/RCS interaction. Peak surge pressures from valve opening and closing events were examined. It was determined that these events were impacted significantly by vapor cavity formation and collapse. In most cases, the valve opening transient was more severe than the valve closing. Under thermal vacuum conditions it was shown that TVS operation is unnecessary to maintain liquid conditions at the thruster inlets. However, under higher heat leak environments, the RCS can still be operated in a self-conditioning mode without overboard TVS venting, contingent upon a sufficient duty cycle and the engines managing a range of potentially severe thermal transients. Lastly, the engines experienced significant ignition problems during testing under cold thermal conditions. Successful ignition was demonstrated only after warming the thruster bodies with a gaseous nitrogen purge to an intermediate temperature. Nomenclature

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Development and Flight Operation of a 5 lbf to 20 lbf O2/CH4 Roll Control Engine for Project Morpheus

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Development of Augmented Spark Impinging Igniter System for Methane Engines

Development of Augmented Spark Impinging Igniter System for Methane Engines

Thermal Behaviour of the Cooling Jacket Belonging to a Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Rocket Engine Demonstrator in the Operation Box

Characterization of a Pressure-Fed LOX/LCH4 Reaction Control System Under Simulated Altitude and Thermal Vacuum Conditions

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